Wednesday

[travel] Montebello Rockfest, Quebec

Last weekend we went up to Montebello, Quebec for Rockfest. The lineup was too good to miss:

Those are just the big names- there were going to be another 100 metal and punk bands.

Our house for the weekend:

It rained Thursday night and sporadically through Friday. The festival grounds turned into:

And it was massively crowded. This is the middle of the day Friday, before things got crazy for Rammstein:

The Rammstein show was excellent (always) and we saw lots of other bands. Jello Biafra was great and he did some Dead Kennedys songs. The Offspring were a pleasant surprise.

Saturday morning rolls around and we're like, "Should we stay or should we go?" The music had been great, all the people were awesome and friendly... but the rain, mud, sleep deprivation, porta potties (oh god, the porta potties), the traffic and carrying all our supplies a mile away to where the car was parked... the thought of doing that Sunday when everyone was going to be doing it as well? Nightmare.

We saw other people packing up their camp sites. So we shrugged and packed up as well. And I have zero regrets. We were back home in Vermont by 5pm on Saturday. I walked in the house, dropped my flip flops into the garbage and took a 30 minute shower. I made a nice supper (we had been living solely on beer and poutine) and watched a movie. By the time we were getting into bed, I was like, "Just think, we'd STILL be waiting for Iggy to go on right now."

And then we had ALL DAY Sunday to chillax when, if we had stayed, we'd be fighting crowds and traffic to leave. And presumably getting our car stuck in the field where we had parked. From what I've read, tons of vehicles were stuck in the mud and had to be towed out (at $50 a pop). The parking situation was probably the most f'ed up thing of the entire fest.

I don't know that we'll do the fest again. If we do, we'll stay in a hotel or something. If anyone is planning to go and wants some advice, I'm happy to talk your ear off. It was definitely a learning experience since we were first-timers. Yessir, Miller.

On to the Quebec City Summer Festival next month. That will be more civilized. We'll be staying in a hotel (indoor plumbing! air conditioning!) and Quebec City itself is so large with lots to see/do. We've been to this festival a couple times in the past and it's tres bien. The first time was to see Rammstein. The second time was to see The Rolling Stones. This year... Metallica!!